Marinette bounded through the city, running over rooftops, falling to ground level to duck and weave through the city, then jumping up to roof level again when convenient.

The wind in her fur, the agility and grace in her feline form - she'd experienced it before while chasing after Chat, but couldn't truly appreciate it with the cat brain she'd had.

Running over rooftops and swinging through the city had always been some of the funnest parts of being Ladybug (not counting getting to spend time with her partner of course). Getting to do it in an even more naturally graceful and acrobatic form was a real treat.

Not that she could do anything too crazy - not yet anyway. She was all too aware of the box clenched between her jaws - and the consequences if she lost it. Best not to repeat the Style Queen incident.

She hadn't been the only one to lose a Miraculous that day at least, Chat had also lost… his Miraculous…

Wait.

WAIT.

Chat was Adrien. Adrien had been statuefied pretty much immediately.

He hadn't lost his Miraculous; he just hadn't had the chance to use it.

That little furball lied!

Oh she was gonna have some word for Plagg later! ...Once she could speak.

But that would have to wait another few days. Right now, she had more important things to attend to.

Nudging open one of the windows of the Cesaire residence, she crept inside.

Luckily the twins weren't around, they would've been hard to avoid.

She padded up to Alya's room, headbutting the door a few times. She'd mew, but she didn't particularly feel like letting go of the box with the Fox Miraculous, not until it was safely in Alya's possession.

"Would you two not-"

Alya opened the door.

Looked down.

And blinked.

"A cat?" she raised one eyebrow. "What're you doing-"

Marinette could tell the exact moment Alya noticed the box holding her Miraculous. Not that that showed any special understanding of her; her face practically breaking in half with her grin and squealing just within the human hearing range (she assumed at least. Being a cat made things like that harder to judge) were pretty good signs.

Alya knelt down. "Is- is that-?"

Marinette gently set the box down and nodded.

Picking it up, Alya opened the lid.

Immediately a light shot out, darting around.

OOH LIGHT. PRETTY LIGHT. MUST CATCH LIGHT.

YOU WILL BE MINE.

"HEY, woah, stop it!"

NO. NO HUMAN STOP ME. MUST CATCH…

She froze, shaking herself.

"I guess her cat instincts are still pretty strong."

Marinette looked up at the voice.

Trixx looked back at her, bemused.

"She's not actually a cat I'm betting, is she?"

"Nope!"

"Then…"

Alya held out her arms. Marinette jumped into them, purring.

She looked more closely at Marinette's neck. "That green pawprint… Chat Noir?!"

Marinette let out a startled meow. She guessed that made sense, but no. Just no.

Alya's brow furrowed. "I'd've thought he'd be black though, not gray."

"That's because that's Ladybug, not Chat!"

"WHAT?! Wait, that actually makes sense. So THAT'S why no one's been restored!"

Glancing down, she noticed something on the floor. "Uh… Trixx? Could you maybe retrieve that piece of paper?" she asked, chagrinned. "My arms are kinda full of Ladycat here."

Trixx chuckled but complied, holding it up so Alya could read it without needing to dislodge Marinette.

"Ladybug got turned into a cat and isn't gonna be turned back for three more days," she read out loud. "Which is bad enough, but we've got other issues. I know who Hawkmoth is, but he'll also find out who I am very soon. I can't go home, and… well, we're gonna need Rena Rouge's expertise for what comes next. Follow Ladycat, she knows the way."

Alya blinked. "The way? The way to what?"

Trixx grinned. "The way to the Guardian of the Miraculous."

Marinette darted through the streets, occasionally pausing to allow Rena Rouge to catch up. Technically they both COULD have run across the rooftops to get to Master Fu's place even faster, but that would've attracted a bit too much attention. She was pushing it before doing that as a cat, but with Rena in tow? Best not to risk it unless they had to.

Rena would arguably have attracted even more attention than that on the ground… if she had actually LOOKED like Rena Rouge. Before leaving she'd cast an illusion on herself, making her look like just another resident of Paris and definitely NOT Alya or Rena Rouge.

Unfortunately, that also meant sticking to plausibly human speed. She'd had to detransform twice already to feed Trixx, but hopefully this would be the last time.

She jumped onto Alya's shoulders while they waited for Trixx to finish eating. With how small she was, she had plenty of room to perch on.

Alya laughed. "You know, you might call Chat a 'silly kitty' sometimes, but I don't think you're far behind him."

She chuffed at that. That may be true, but she didn't need to call her out like that.

She shifted slightly, brushing herself against Alya's neck.

Alya let out an impulsive laugh.

Marinette's eyes sparkled. REVENGE.

Quickly she brushed herself all over Alya's neck, making sure her tail brushed just so, along with nuzzling into her neck.

And then had to quickly move as Alya sank to the floor giggling. "You- you win," she gasped as she got ahold of herself after Marinette's impromptu tickling. "You're not nearly as much of a silly kitty as Chat. You're sillier."

Okay she should have expected that.

Brushing herself off, Alya got to her feet. "Hey Trixx, you almost done?"

The fox kwami looked down on them, bemused. "I finished eating half a minute ago, I was just waiting for you two to finish up."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Trixx, Let's Pounce!"

Rena knocked on the door of the small shop. Didn't exactly look like somewhere a 'Guardian of the Miraculous' might live, but that was the idea, wasn't it? If Hawkmoth got his hands on this 'Guardian'-

She shuddered. She may not know what this 'Guardian' did, but Hawkmoth getting anything or anyone Miraculous-related would be very, VERY bad.

A familiar face greeted her. She blinked.

"Adrien? What're you doing here?"

"Uuuuuh, I'm not Adrien, no sirree, absolutely not!" he said hastily waving his arms. "I'm-"

Glancing around the room, his gaze landed on a teapot.

"I'm- I'm Earl. Just helping out my great-grandfather, you know how it is. Buuuut we're busy, and closed, nice to see you please drop by some other time!"

Wow. He was not the best improv liar.

Not to someone who actually knew him, at any rate.

She caught the door before he could close it all the way - just long enough for Ladycat to slip through.

"Ladyb- Lady!" He cried out, obviously catching himself before he could blurt out her full name. "What're you doing with this person - wait is he Rena Rouge?!"

She chuckled, releasing her illusion as she closed the door behind her. "The one and only. Also, that story's not likely to work when you look exactly the same as usual. What're the odds of you having a doppelganger?"

"I'll have to show you pictures of my cousin some time."

"Who?"

"Never mind." His expression darkened. "He's not the family member we need to worry about."

"Can I punch your father? I'd really like to punch your father."

Adrien - or Adrichat she guessed - grimaced. "You might need to, but I'd like to avoid a fight if we can."

He stared at his hands. "I know he's done a lot of terrible things, but… he's still my father. He's almost certainly going to go to prison, I can't see him getting off for what he's done as Hawkmoth, but I don't want to hurt him if we can avoid it."

"Plus there's your mother to consider."

She'd been pretty shocked when he sat down and explained everything - his secret identity (HA! She was totally right!), how he'd followed Ladycat into his father's secret lair, and everything that'd happened there.

Emilie being alive, his father being more of an asshole than she'd ever conceived - this had been quite a day for Adrien.

Something that Ladycat sought to help with, purring in Adrien's lap like a mini lawnmower, nuzzling him every time he started looking especially downcast.

She wished she could help Adrien more, but… well, they hadn't really talked that much, one-on-one. Most of the time she was helping Marinette to try to win Adrien over or just chatting with him along with Nino - they were part of the same friend group, but they didn't actually interact that much. When they did, it was usually because they wanted to help Marinette somehow.

No wonder Adrien'd never been able to decipher Marinette's attempts at telling him how she felt! Knowing how up front Chat was with his affections, how over-the-top? Marinette's mixed signals wouldn't be the easiest thing to disentangle, if his normal perception of how-to-flirt was that blatant.

Plus, well… he already had his eyes on someone.

She smiled as Ladycat stood up and brushed herself all around Adrien. Didn't need to be a cat to see what she was doing; letting him know she was there, she wouldn't leave him, just giving him the physical affection he needed.

The bond between those two was hard to deny. It might not be romantic on Ladybug's part (at least that she would admit; she'd noticed Ladybug being a little softer, a little gentler, giving him certain looks) but on Chat's side? He seemed ready to melt into a puddle.

Though the looks he was giving Ladycat right now, those partly lidded eyes, that gentle smile - on Chat she may not have been able to draw the connection. But on Adrien?

They were just like his expression when he looked at Marinette.

And Marinette had been missing ever since Catwoman's attack.

If Marinette and Ladybug turned out to be the same person, she wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry, or scream about the universe's ironic sense of humor.

The more she thought about it, the more certain she grew.

Strong sense of justice? Check.

Creative and good at thinking on her feet? Check.

Kind and willing to give second chances when need be? Check.

Not to mention her selecting Alya as the first temporary miraculous holder, and securing Alya that first-ever interview with Ladybug.

With herself.

No WONDER she'd been able to do that when no one else could!

Ooookay, calm down Alya. Still don't know that for sure. It could still all be a coincidence.

...Probably not, but she didn't actually need to know Ladybug's identity right now. Chat's identity coming out couldn't have been reasonably avoided, not with needing to confront Hawkmoth, to confront his father, and him almost certainly knowing Chat's identity.

She'd play along for now.

She really, REALLY hoped she was right though. Knowing that on all those missions they'd had together, every time she'd hung out with Ladybug, she'd been hanging out with her best friend? That she'd teased Ladybug about boy troubles, had slumber parties with her, had kicked her butt at Dance Dance Revolution (and gotten her butt kicked in turn at Ultimate Mecha Strike III)?

Just… knowing who she was as Ladybug, who she was as Marinette, and putting it all together?

It cemented Ladybug as human, as being a person and not some far away idol. She may not be perfect - far from it - but she tried her best. Sometimes she made a mistake, sometimes she got flustered and did something foolish, sometimes she made bad decisions, and sometimes she let her emotions get the better of her, like any other teenager.

But ultimately, she was still a hero. Still a Hero of Paris.

She didn't need to be some godlike figure. She just needed to try her best.

Welp.

There went any hope of convincing herself that Marinette and Ladybug might not be the same person.

Hopefully Adrien figured it out soon too. She could keep a secret if she needed to, but if she had to watch those two moon around each other for much longer she'd be tempted to shove them in a panther cage until they figured out they liked each other already.

Hey it'd worked for her and Nino!

"Alya? Alya!"

She startled at Adrien's worried tone. Even Ladycat (or maybe she should say Marinette? ...she'd stick with Ladycat for now, no need to remind herself of her revelation more than she already had) padded over to her and meowed, pawing at her face to get her attention.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! Just zoned out a bit. What were you saying?"

He gave her another worried look, but continued. "We're gonna sneak back into his lair. I'll distract Father and Mayura if she shows up while you cloak yourself, Fu, and Ladycat in an illusion to make yourselves as inconspicuous as possible - invisible preferably, but you'll need to be careful not to trip over each other."

She frowned. "You'll take Hawkmoth and Mayura on by YOURSELF? You sure that's a good idea?"

He grimaced. "No, but I'm used to handling myself while Ladybug figures out and implements a plan. I can manage for a little bit. And anyway, it's only just long enough for Fu to examine my mother and figure out what he can do for her, if anything. Then we can retreat and regroup."

Glancing down at the kitty in his lap, he smiled. "Besides, I'll still have my partner there. She may not be able to fight quite like normal, she's still Ladybug, and she still has superpowers. We don't need to be able to talk in order to fight together."

Considering the videos she'd seen of the Frightingale fight, with Chat and Ladybug dance-fighting in synchrony while RHYMING? No doubt about that.

Oh hell, Adrien'd been forced to dress up as Chat and Marinette volunteered as Ladybug.

"HA!"

She quickly got ahold of herself, but not before Adrien looked at her worryingly again. "Uh… you sure you're alright, Alya?"

She waved him off. "I just thought of something funny, that's all."

Seriously, Marinette and Adrien could change their body language so heavily that even though they looked practically identical to how they did as Ladybug and Chat (minus the masks, which she suspected they 'lost' on purpose), no one else had a clue they were one and the same, even with seeing Ladybug and Chat Noir minutes later? She'd never make fun of Clark Kenting again.

She softened her voice. "You ready to face your father now?"

He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "...Yeah. I think so. Let's do this."